The present invention relates to a planetary gear mechanism for a wind power plant.
The following discussion of related art is provided to assist the reader in understanding the advantages of the invention, and is not to be construed as an admission that this related art is prior art to this invention.
Gear mechanisms for wind power plants were until now predominantly constructed with roller bearings. Slide bearings have previously been used only very rarely. The reasons for this are frequently occurring transient operating conditions and temporarily extremely low sliding speeds with simultaneous extreme stressing of the slide bearings. Conventional slide bearings are used in particular under conditions of use with high to very high rotational speeds. As a result, usually roller bearings are used virtually exclusively for bearing points in wind power gear mechanisms.
Conventional slide bearing materials are, for example, white metals with alloy components and bronze alloys. In general, slide bearings in industrial applications are configured with a lubrication gap of approximately 15-20 μm at the operating point. Approximately 5 MPa for white metal is specified as the permissible average dynamic pressure by bearing manufacturers.
It would therefore be desirable and advantageous to obviate prior art shortcomings and to provide an improved planetary gear mechanism for a wind power plant with planetary gear bearings that can be manufactured cost-effectively and have a very long service life.